Long Day
by Lou666
Summary: Scorpius asks Rose why she doesn't drink. Rated for language.


The bass was pumping, the walls were heaving and the carpeted floors were vibrating beneath their feet. The dance floor was filled with people trying to emulate the words of the song and show that they too had the moves like Jagger and also shuffled every day. Alcohol was flowing freely in any form one could think of and the punch was spiked with a healthy dose of vodka and tequila. Yes, Gryffindor had once again once the House Cup.

'Rosie. Rosie-rose? ROSE!' Hugo again repeated in order to get his sister's attention.

'What Hugo?' She grumbled, her eyes torn away from the drink in her hand that she was intently studying, trying to decide just by looking at it how much alcohol was _really_ in the "non-alcoholic punch."

'You can't tell Mum and Dad.' He started, his slightly bent posture making the brown mess of curls he sported fall down into his eyes completely destroying the serious look he was going for. He paused for a moment and peered down at his own drink seeming slightly bemused. Somehow in the time it had taken him to shoulder his way off of the improvised dancefloor to his morose looking older sister an umbrella had appeared in it. He flicked it with his index finger, thoroughly entranced as it spun.

'I can't tell Mum and Dad what?' He was fifteen but still so annoying. It was _just_ a cocktail umbrella. She resisted the urge to snatch it out of his fingers and fling it back to the annoying blonde who had put it there. '_Fifth years these days, don't they know how to tell a boy that they're interested?' _She thought with a wry smile.

'That I'm drunk. Well... not_ drunk_ per se. I'm on the precipice between being rather happy and entertaining and being well.. rather paralytic! I do believe that at some point in the next few drinks I shall remove myself from that precipice and go the whole way.' She raised her eyebrows as she recognised the way Hugo tended to ramble and use big words when he was trying to sound sober.

'Of course I won't tell them. It would just backfire on me. Idiot.' She sighed, rolling her eyes at his stupidity.

'Thanks Rosie!' He stumbled off, and wrapped his arm around the annoying blonde fifth year, startling her, but she looked up at him and blushed all the same.

'Rose, why so sad?' Daisy Thomas asked her. Her friend and dormmate Daisy was, like the rest of them, quite inebriated. She pouted and pushed her hands out towards Rose's face, pulling her lips into a smile. 'That's better.' She mumbled stumbling her way back to the dance floor, grabbing a sixth year called Mackie and pulling him with no complaints along with her.

Rose sighed heavily. She was only here trying to have a good time, something she wanted to be able to do without having anyone annoy her or imbibing large amounts of alcohol. She pushed herself off of the wall she was leaning against and ghosted ou of the common room, slipping through the portrait hole.

_What's wrong with a little alcohol Rose? _

The air inside the castle was cool, but without a winter chill in the air, her light shirt and short skirt was enough as she made her way towards the owlery. She didn't pass anyone on her travels and nor did she expect to. It was nearly the end of term and every house was either partying or commiserating. The House Cup barely mattered to most students, but it was a very good excuse for a party that the heads of house would turn a blind eye to.

Before she knew it, she was at the top of the steps to the owlery. Recently, she had been needing more and more time to herself to think about her life and try to forget how badly everything was messed up. She ran her hands over her face, bit her bottom lip and willed herself not to cry. She tried to tell herself it just wasn't her year, that everything would be better next year but she had tried that last year and everything was still exactly the same.

At least the sky was clear and she could see the stars. She always found comfort in their constancy. When she was little, her mother used to point out all of the constellations but not anymore. Not since _everything_ had changed.

_Sometimes shit things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. That's life. _

'Rose?' His blank voice pulled her from his reverie. She turned her head and started as she registered his closeness. He was standing right beside her, looking up at the same night sky, his blond hair shining white in the moonlight and his blue eyes flickered to look straight through her.

'Scorpius.' She turned back to the open air. 'What are you doing here?'

'I have a question for you.' He stated with a cool confidence that bordered on arrogance. She shook her head thinking that they'd been through almost seven years of school together and she she still didn't know what to make of him.

'And what's that?' This was good. The conversation was distracting her from her previous thoughts...

'Why don't you drink?' ...Until that.

'Because I like to be able to have fun without alcohol.' She answered without pause, supplying the same thing to him that she gave to everyone who asked her that question. She didn't meet his eyes, choosing to look blandly over his shoulder, avoiding his eyes.

'Lie.'

'I like to be in control of the situation.' This was her next normal deflection.

'Bullshit.' He quietly challenged.

'I don't like the feeling.' She tried again. Her lie sounded hollow even to her own ears.

'Would you like to start telling the truth anytime soon?' Merlin, he was arrogant.

'My mum's an alcoholic.' She finally released. 'She has been ever since Hugo started here, or at least that's when she stopped trying to hide it from me. So there's a high chance I have a predisposition towards it. Is that a good enough truth for you?' She met his eyes, knowing she was going to see pity there and hating him for it. He had asked.

'I'm sorry, Rose.' He reached out to touch her arm but she slapped it away. He was curious but just like the proverbial cat, his curiosity had led him into much more than he had bargained for. He didn't know how to deal with emotion, he _was_ a Malfoy

'Why?' She looked down. 'You didn't cause it. Besides.. nothing can stay a secret forever.' Tears pricked at her eyelids but she blinked them away. She'd already cried enough over this.

_We all have our coping mechanisms, Rose. This is mine._

'Who else knows?' He inquired quietly.

'Just Dad, and now you. It's so fucked up. My entire family is so fucked up!' She sucked in a deep breath to try to steady herself. 'It's like, do anything you want as long as Hugo doesn't find out. Just drink whatever you want, and fuck whoever you want, as long as Hugo doesn't find out it makes it all okay.' Her voice started wavering with emotion and she knew she shouldn't be breaking in front of him but she couldn't help it.

He nodded to show he was listening and the words kept flowing. 'You know Daisy Thomas? My father is fucking her mother. And Mum knows. _He couldn't resist her in sixth year. Why would he start now?_ That's all she said. I can't even look at Daisy in the eyes anymore because Daisy doesn't know and that's_ all she said._ What am I supposed to say when I see her? When she asks me to say hi to my parents? Why don't they just get a divorce and stop each other's misery?' She was ranting now, her words punctuated with sloppy hand movements she was helpless to stop. She buried her face in her hands and tried to retain the precarious control she had left.

Scorpius looked at her and internally sighed. He knew there was nothing he could do. There was nothing anyone could do to make the situation better. 'My mother had an affair with my tutor when I was eight. My dad found out and did nothing. The manor was just silent for a whole week. Then he went away for a month on business and I got a new tutor. Nothing more was said.' He didn't know why he was telling her this. He thought that maybe because she had revealed something so personal he felt the need to reciprocate.

'I_ hate_ how they can fuck us up so easily and not even realise it. Do they even care?' He placed his arm around her and she hesitated for a moment before she curled into him.

He knew family. Family sucked you in and made you care, even when it hurt. It entangled you 'till you couldn't escape.

'They care, Rose. I.. I care.' He knew how stupid and insipid it sounded but he didn't know what else to say. He knew better than most that words just weren't enough in some situations. He had been told that bad things happen to good people by his father, and Rose was living proof of this. While she had a sharp tongue and quick wit, she wasn't vicious and like her mother was reputed to do, she always backed the underdog. Karma it seemed, did not always come into play.

She stood there for as long as the voice in her head - telling she was pathetic - would let her. Scorpius didn't ask for this and even though he made the first move, she knew he didn't want to spend his Friday night looking after an over emotional teenage girl that he barely knew. After an internal war and several moments later she pulled away. The ache in her chest had been dulled slightly and she could finally think about facing the cheerful and careless common room again.

'Thank you.. so much ..for this.' She whispered, then kissed his cheek before pulling away and leaving without another word, leaving behind a silent and stunned teenage boy, gazing dumbly at unchanged sky.

**This is my first Rose/Scorpius fic and I would love to know what you think of it, even if you think it's completely terrible. Also the italics are what Hermione has said to Rose at some point in case you didn't get that. **


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